National Council of Resistance of Iran

According to its website, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is a "broad coalition of democratic Iranian organizations, groups and personalities."[1] Made up of Iranian exiles and minorities with pro-Israel, anti-Iranian views, several analysts[2] and US lawmakers[3] consider the NCRI a Paris-based front group of the Mujahideen-e Khalq.

Contents

Mission: Overthrow the Iranian Government

The NCRI claims to have created a "Parliament in Exile,"[1] with "500 members"[1] ready to replace the current Iranian government once it has been overthrown. "President-elect" Maryam Rajavi will head the parliament until the NCRI decides to hold "free" elections.

The NCRI openly advocates overthrowing the current Iranian government. In a section titled the "National Solidarity Front" on its website, the NCRI describes its hopes for the overthrow of the current Iranian government:

In its two-day plenary session in November 2002, NCRI adopted a plan to form the "National Solidarity Front to Overthrow Religious Dictatorship in Iran." The front was designed as a platform to encompass all Iranian republicans who "are campaigning for a democratic, independent and secular regime."

The Council noted that brightening prospects for overthrow of the regime necessitate ever-greater national solidarity among Iranians; a fact that prompted the NCRI to ratify the formation of the Front.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi described the Front as "a reflection of the most profound democratic yearnings of all the people of Iran, regardless of ideology, belief, religion and ethnicity that transcends all partisan and political interests." She said the Front "embodies the unshakable resolve of the Iranian people to overthrow the mullahs' inhuman regime."[1]

MEK Alias/Terrorist Designation

The US State Department has twice designated the NCRI as an "alias" of the MEK and thereby a "terrorist organization," once after an initial investigation and again after an appeal was brought forward for review by those that claimed to be representatives of the NCRI:

Nearly a year later, the State Department provided for NCRI's review additional materials obtained by the FBI in the course of "its long-running investigation of the MEK and NCRI." Letter of Ambassador Francis X. Taylor, Coordinator for Counterterrorism, U.S. Dep't of State, at 1 (Sept. 4, 2002). Within two months, NCRI submitted its response. See Letter of Paul F. Enzinna, Esq. (Nov. 1, 2002). In May 2003, the State Department completed its review process and, on May 24, the Secretary decided to leave in place the 1999 and 2001 "designations of the National Council of Resistance (NCR) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) as foreign terrorist organization aliases of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)." Action Mem. from William Pope & William H. Taft, IV to the Secretary of State, at 3 (May 22, 2003) (Action Mem.).[3]